March, 2010
Lloyds could double, says Merrill
Merrill Lynch has attempted to upstage Lloyds boss Eric Daniels, who is appearing at Morgan Stanley’s European Financials Conference later on Wednesday.
Merrill’s banks analyst Michael Helsby is telling clients that Lloyds’ share price could double — yes,
Anything the FSA can do, the SFO can do better
Breaking news on Wednesday — the UK’s Serious Fraud Office has arrested three directors of Alstom in the UK on suspicion of bribery and corruption.
The SFO’s press release, in full:
Three members of the Board of ALSTOM in the UK have been arrested on suspicion of bribery and corruption,
New (negative) territory
Can you spot the odd one out in the Barclays Capital market snapshot below?
That’s right. On Tuesday, the 10-year US swap spread turned negative for the first time ever on record, according to Bloomberg data.
[Darling: Budget Highlights 2010] Goldman says buy the Budget (a bit)
Worried about UK equities in the face of looming fiscal consolidation?
Don’t be, says Goldman Sachs — purveyors of sterling-slump strategies and sterling-strength research.
On the morning of Alistair Darling’s Budget report,
China’s great central economy, and big local problems
How to get a $295m loan from a Chinese bank:
1. Be a local government investment vehicle, or own one.
2. Say you will use the loan for a high-profile investment.
3. Proceed to use the money for something else.
Cuckoo clocks and chopsticks at dawn
The Swiss franc reached a record against the euro on Tuesday — and that’s despite a recent pledge by the country’s central bank that it would help counter “excessive appreciation” in the currency.
Portugal vs Greece on sovereign risk
Are you looking for the next Greece?
Well… it’s probably still Greece, at this point. Prospects for European aid remained faint on Tuesday, as German officials set hard preconditions for any deal — and the IMF bailout rumours flew.
Further reading
Elsewhere on Wednesday,
- Bank of America speaks on Repo 105.
- A currency misalignment primer.
- Thou shalt not go short in this market.
- Money Supply ≠ inflation. Discuss.
- And discuss more.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Wednesday’s FT,
Martin Wolf: Excessive virtue can be a vice for the world economy
Germany says “nein”. That is the most important conclusion to be drawn from the debate on eurozone economic policy,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Wednesday,
- Easyjet confirms Carolyn McCall as new CEO – statement.
- Icap says H2 profit margins maintained or improved – statement.
- Delta receives another offer – statement.
PETA says Blackstone kills whale trainers; SeaWorld fights back
The following press release from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals hit the FT Alphaville inbox on Tuesday (emphasis ours):
PETA has purchased common units in equity firm and SeaWorld owner
Einhorn v Lehman, congressional hearings edition
Chazzer Gasparino seems to be settling into his new role at Fox Business News quite nicely, with what appears to be a slightly speculative scoop about David Einhorn and Lehman Brothers.
As Gasparino reported on the Fox Business website (emphasis ours):
Jon Corzine takes the reins at MF Global
Shares in MF Global rallied some 15 per cent in aftermarket trade on Tuesday on news that Jon Corzine would be taking over as chairman and chief executive.
Corzine, a former chairman at Goldman Sachs and the 54th governor of New Jersey,
Who is Julian Rifat?
Early on Tuesday morning in London, traders were abuzz with speculation as to the identities of six men arrested in a joint operation by the UK’s regulator and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).
With great power… [UPDATED]
While FT Alphaville is not aimed at a retail investment audience*, we do attract a small number of “what should I do with my pension?” and “isn’t GKP amazing?” type commenters.
So it was with interest that we noted the results of a Harris Interactive survey which found that:
Getting the most out of FT Alphaville – a how-to guide
FT Alphaville is more than a blog – we also offer an RSS feed, access via Twitter, three daily e-briefings and a mobile site for readers on the go. And of course, there’s the Long Room, our members-only comment and analysis area.
The LSE makes history (updated)
The London Stock Exchange chalked up a fresh milestone on Tuesday – but probably not one its executives will want to remember.
From Bloomberg:
March 23 (Bloomberg) — London Stock Exchange Group Plc’s share of FTSE 100 Index stock transactions fell below 50 percent for the first time in intraday trading as Europe’s oldest independent bourse lost more ground to alternative trading systems.
The Greek bailout-o-meter swings again
Movement on aid for Greece? Expect this to be heavily caveated within minutes, but — this is just in from Bloomberg:
BN 16:07 *GERMANY, FRANCE AGREE ON IMF ROLE IN GREECE, GERMAN AIDE SAYS
It’s only an aide.
CDS report: Where’s the buyout?
European credit indices bounced back from their downbeat start to the week, outperforming their equity counterparts. The Markit iTraxx Europe index was trading around 80bp, about 3bp tighter than yesterday’s close.
Repo ichi zero go?
Repo 105 — the accounting device used by Lehman Brothers’ to disguise its true leverage ratio in the final years of the bank’s existence — would have been nothing without a willing counterparty.
The accounting gimmick,
The rise and rise of the corporate treasury trader…and Google
Un thème nouveau pour l’époque?
It appears that corporations, just like municipalities and, err, city-states, are increasingly dabbling with the ‘synergies’ that can be extrapolated from managing their own treasury affairs,
China’s banks, more liquid-hot than ever
And the great Chinese credit bubble leap forward continues, with Tuesday’s datapoint coming from Bank of China.
After all, the bank led the charge on Tuesday with some really not too shabby results.
Breaking insider trading news of the day…
Hot off the wire from Reuters on Tuesday:
RTRS- UK’S FSA – SIX ARRESTED IN FSA AND SOCA INSIDER DEALING INVESTIGATION
London, March 23 (Reuters) – Financial Services Authority:
* six arrested in
Markets Live transcript 23 Mar 2010
Markets Live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:04 on 23 Mar 2010. Participants in this chat were: Neil Hume, FT Bryce Elder NHgood morning NHand welcome to Markets Live
The financial world, one node at a time
Proving it’s a small world after all (really) – at least according to a just-published Bank of England working paper.
The paper looks at bilateral external balance sheet data, from 1980 to 2005, for a group of 18 countries.
Greek own-brand speculation, redux
It’s not quite as bad as Hellenic Post Bank’s €950m CDS punt on its own country. Still, the Greek prime minister’s war on speculators looks even more forlorn, given that his government also helps sponsor mass speculation among ordinary Greeks.
When to sell gold?
Now, there’s a question, and it’s one that Societe Generale’s Dylan Grice has attempted to answer on Tuesday:
JP Morgan once said he’d made his fortune by selling too soon. We spend much time thinking about what to buy and when to buy it,
UK inflation *fall*
UK inflation has fallen for the first time since September, according to figures released by the ONS on Tuesday.
But not by much…
…and it still remains above 3 per cent.
Sterling initially sold off following the weaker than expected data (the City consensus was for a 3.1 per cent year-on-year rise),